Plot outlinie: A young boy gets an unexpected surprise when his dad returns after having mysteriously disappeared three years earlier. As it turns out, his dad was abducted by aliens, and he is not exactly the man he was before.

'Xtro' is a british low-budget sci-fi horror flick. The plot revolves around a small british family, the father of which has been abducted by aliens. He returns to the family, but in a horribly changed state.

An interesting feature of the plot is that it is virtually impossible to guess what happens next. Indeed, as the plot develops, it seems to devolve into pure hilarious insanity. The most memorable character in the movie is a deadly circus clown dwarf with a yo-yo as a weapon, summoned by a little boy to destroy his enemies.

I am not making this up.

The alien dad and the alien mutations that he inflicts on his surroundings are not especially convincingly made. The most disgusting scene is also the most convincing, the grotesque birth of a fully grown man, similar to the birth of 'Lillebror' in Lars von Triers amazing horror series 'Riget'.

The music of 'Xtro' is particularly weird, it sounds like the composer has scored the movie in realtime using a studio full of synthesizers. As stylish as this kind of soundtrack could have been, the music of 'Xtro' fits the drama of the movie extremely poorly; every truly dramatic or horrible sequence is accompanied by underwhelming music that emotes 'mystery' or 'interest'. This score is one of the worst I have heard in recent memory.

'Xtro' has a few interesting elements and a surprising plot, but it fails to achieve some of the more cultish qualities needed to ensure the success of an ultimately poorly made movie.